To trick the eye and mind into seeing a 3-dimensional (3D) stereo image from a projected display image, a separate image is displayed for each eye. Traditional stereo images are displayed on a flat screen. The figures discussed below illustrate the conventional generation of 3D stereo images, and the figures are plan sections through a screen. A line represents a regular screen, and a circle represents a cross-section through a spherical screen.
In FIG. 1, a flat screen 102 is shown with a single dot 104 that represents the multitude of points used to form an entire image. The viewer 106 is in front of the screen and sees the single dot along with many other points on the screen. This is what viewers observe in a movie theater, on a television, or on a computer monitor when each eye receives the same image from the screen. The image on the screen appears to be at the same distance from the observer as the screen itself.
When a stereo image is represented on the screen, then two separate images are displayed and this includes one image for each eye. Making sure that each eye only sees one image may be accomplished in many ways. Some of the main methods that are used to separate the images for each eye can include color filtering such as red/blue or red/green filtering with glasses systems. In addition, polarization glasses can be used to separate the images, or active shuttering glasses can also be used. Other methods are available that can be used to separate the images for viewers' eyes and more methods may be developed in the future that provide similar 3D viewing results using separated images.